Halloween's blues
by Remembering childhood
Summary: One-shot. Teens in a costume shop, spandex and two lonely fighters. Weird summary, cute story. Written for SweetestIrony's October contest.


**Author's note : This was written for SweetestIrony's October contest and dedicated to Texaspeach, whose contribution to the said contest over the last few months has motivated me to enter.**

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Halloween.

For most of us, this moment of the year is a synonym to merry family reunions, parties with friends and incredibly cute five years old dressed as giant pumpkins ringing at doorbells to get bright coloured candy.

But for a certain demi-saiyan, it always came with its dose of melancholy and yearning for things of the past that never were… As the young fighter walked, soaked in the autumn's cold rain, the water seemingly passing right through him and chilling him to the bone, his thoughts were turned on his childhood years, before Namek, before the term "saiyan" became part of his reality; when he was for the last time truly happy with his father.

A man was walking towards him. Through the curtain of the rain, the black haired fighter was intrigued the man uncommon shape. As he came closer, he saw the fragile frame of a little girl lovingly shielded from the cold rain in her father's arms, inside his trench coat. A sad smile stretched the corner of Gohan's lips; how he missed his father… How long had it been; seven years already? He had learned to be "the man of the house", to take care of his mother and little brother, but in times when others were celebrating with their family, he felt alone, alone and selfish. Yes, he felt selfish that his mother's love and his little brother literal worship of his person did not seem to compensate for the bitter emptiness he felt inside of him, that sort of void that had robbed him of his innocence and joy, those seven years ago.

He slowly turned a corner; he was getting closer to his destination. He could have flown, but not today; it seemed he did not even have the strength or the will to do so. Even the door seemed heavy, as he pushed it, entering this venerable shop to the tinkling of a bell. Inside, a soft yet warm yellow light was illuminating the dust particles suspended in the air, merry music was playing as an accompaniment for merry laughter freely escaping from child as well as grown ups' throats. The smell of fabric, furs and felt assaulted gaily the young fighter's senses; his eyes opened up wide as he slowly took into view the most noble, oldest and prestigious costume store of Satan City.

Over the years, what had started as a small business had grown into a wealthy enterprise and despite putting away many costumes each year, their numbers had grown steadily until now, resulting into a complex organized chaos of stacks, racks and boxes full of costumes squeezed as tightly as possible into the small shop.

The half-saiyan's hypersensitive hears picked up muffled shouts coming from the back of the store, removing his wet jacket, he did not have the time to walk far into the alleys of costumes before his three friends came rushing towards him. He had reluctantly agreed to meet them at the store; he never had been able to refuse something if asked nicely and Erasa had become an expert at asking him things nicely, hinting that she had somehow tricked Videl into coming as well.

"I'm so glad you're finally here! I'm so excited! Tomorrow, we will vanquish all competition and conquer the title of best costume of Orange High!" the blond exclaimed, with a fake French accent, proudly dressed in a weird medieval costume that evoked Joan of Arc.

"Yeah, whatever… Gohan, what took you so long?" was Videl's response. Still wearing her normal clothes, she was looking intently at her friend.

"Eh… I got lost." was the tall alien's reply. Technically, it wasn't a lie, though it would have been more accurate to say that he had been lost in his thoughts.

The young crime fighter's gaze was still fixed on him and Gohan felt his cheeks redden; he always felt… _naked_ when he was around that girl, as if she could read right through him. For once, he was relieved to hear Sharpner break the uncomfortable silence. The brainless teenager wore a large black cape, a sword on his back and had most of his face covered by an oversized hat. Crossing his arms and assuming a posture where he stood tall and powerful, towering commandingly over his friends (or so he thought!) he simply stated, with his voice much deeper than usual:

"My name is D"

"The what?" Laughter erupted from the two girls as Gohan naively asked his question, thus ruining the poor Sharpner's glorious moment.

"You know, the mysterious fighter, half human, half something else…" was Erasa's answer, her voice clouded into Halloween spookiness and moving her hands in a most mysterious aerial choreography (or so she thought!).

"What do you mean I know…I wouldn't know anything about that!?" was Gohan nervous response.

"It's a movie, Gohan." simply stated Videl, much to her friend's relief. Erasa now eyed with envy Sharpner's costume. Suddenly, an idea came into her mind, which was quite an infrequent thing. Grabbing her blond friend by the arm, she dragged him back into the huge mess of costumes. The two fighters now stood immobile, waiting for something to happen. Gohan first broke the uncomfortable silence:

"I don't know what I'm doing here… I never dress special for Halloween anyway… I can always be disguised as myself…" was the lame excuse Gohan voiced.

Though Videl had reluctantly accepted to come with Erasa to get a costume, in fact she had used that same lame line to her blond friend, she was not going to let Gohan back away from this so easily:

"If I get to show up at school in a stupid costume, so do you!" her index was pointed menacingly towards her tall friend "and besides, you're not telling me everything! I can tell you're hiding something and I hate it when you're hiding things from me!"

Just for once, the tenacity of the girl was welcome. Sure he did not want her to pursue on trying to discover The Great Saiyaman's true identity, but in those moments he was glad he had a friend stubborn enough to see he was not feeling all that well. Gohan nervously started to push costumes around, not really looking at them, just trying to find a way to keep his hands busy.

"I don't know…the whole world just seems so darn happy!" he sighed, how selfish he was, he thought.

"Let's just say my childhood wasn't exactly filled with happy memories" he said bitterly. Indeed, seeing your friends and family die, more than once, training under the impending threat of total annihilation of the human race, those were not happy thoughts.

"So I guess, in times like these, I get a fit of the blues..." He had heard himself say those last sentences. Those were not the words he would have chosen to use; how stupid that must have sounded… But to his surprise, Videl's voice came as soft and stripped of all defences as it could be:

"I lost my mom when I was a kid." Her eyes were now glued on the rack of clothes in front of them "it just isn't the same, you know, when you grow up without a parent. You see all the other children with their family, having a thanksgiving turkey or whatever and you wonder why… why you didn't have that chance, why a part of what should have been yours was stolen from you…" both of them had tears in their eyes now.

They were close to each other, almost buried between two large fur coats, as their eyes met. A silent understanding of the other's pain was shared, as well as the knowledge they had find an ear always willing to listen.

"There you are!" The two embarrassed teens took their distances and looked at their ecstatic friend. She had tied her blond hair into ponytails each side of her head and was wearing a schoolgirl uniform. With unmatched grace, she moved her arms and legs, entranced in a deadly dance (or so she thought!) and took a fighting stance, shouting about something Gohan understood was a _lunar disc_, what ever that meant. In fact, it dawned on him that it seemed somehow reminiscent of Krillin's famous destructo disc attack… Videl only sighed at her friend's preposterous disguise.

"Isn't it great? We have a concept!" she said, her voice reaching new heights of excitation. Behind her, Sharpner still in the same dark costume was smiling most devilishly.

"We will all dress as characters from anime! Take those and go try them on!" two bags obviously containing Halloween costumes were shoved into the two black haired teens' hands and themselves into fitting rooms.

What Gohan had found in his bag looked to him a lot like the spandex fighting outfits he had wore on multiple occasions, except that it was red and blue instead of plain blue. It also came with some sort of mask that he did not bother to wear just yet. He slid into it with ease and was quite surprised by the level of comfort he was feeling; it was clear why Vegeta still enjoyed wearing such outfits…

As he stepped out of the room, Erasa's eyes, glimmering, started to travel on his body. Used to such fighting outfits, he had not realized how revealing of his anatomy they could be; his muscles very well visible under the tight spandex suit had definitely caught her attention. Comments regarding his overall frame and look were coming at an alarming rate from the demi-saiyan's blond female friend, while her male counterpart had his mouth open, but remained utterly silent, shocked by this imposing muscle revelation

"Honestly Erasa, you don't think that I'm going to wear this…" Pulling the curtains of her fitting room, Videl came into sight. Her three friends turned, then stopped all movement and contemplated the vision in front of them.

The young crime fighter's black hair fell freely upon her shoulders, her azure blue eyes seemed to glow from an unholy light as too large black stripes adorned her cheeks, but what had stroked her friends, was what she wore. Though no skin was visible bellow her head, every feminine curve and muscle of her body were emphasized by a tight black stretchy outfit. Turning slowly on herself, Gohan's gaze went from her well sculpted shoulder blades' muscles to her proud and haughty back, from the alluring curve of the small of her back to her tight bottom, then to her firm and long legs. As if his mouth was not dry enough, the dark girl in fighting attire faced him. He could not divert his eyes from her body; the black outfit moulded shapes he could not have guessed she had… his eyes trailed on her thighs, her hips, the line the tight fabric showed on her abdomen, her breasts…

"So, you like it or not?" Gohan's attention was brought back to the girl's face, their glances met. Blood rushed furiously to the teenager's cheeks, leaving, most luckily for him, its previous location. Despite the constant eulogy coming relentlessly from the two blonds, azure was locked on black as if the world around them didn't exist.

"You didn't answer; you like it or not?" the blunt question took the tall fighter by surprise. Muscles contracted, his mouth became desert dry and a low chocked voice came from his throat:

"You're beautiful…"

"Fine, I'll take it." With that, Videl turned on her heels and sped towards the cashier. She had left behind three very dumbstruck teenagers and she was glad they were not following her, for they would have seen her cheeks turn a deep shade of crimson. Her face was boiling at the vivid memory; she would never have thought that he could look at her like _that_. Gone was the intellectual look on his face, gone was the innocent light dancing in his eyes, gone was the shy scholar. In front of her had stood a man, a warrior built like a Greek god, looking at her with such passion, even lust! Never would she have guessed those two persons could have cohabited in the same body.

She paid her costume, still wearing it, prudishly put her rain coat on and waved her friends goodbye. She smiled to a slightly confused Gohan, back to his shy scholar self again, who returned the smile.

"See you tomorrow!" she said, opening the door. The tinkling sound announcing her departure from the store, she stepped outside. The rain was cooling off her face. She had never appreciated to feel eyes over her body, more than once it had resulted in a fist breaking a nose and her taking note to self to not wear a shirt showing her cleavage again. The small chat, that moment of pure understanding, they had shared had brought her a lasting feeling of release. Recalling what happened when she got out of the fitting room, she surprised herself to think that it did not bother her to feel his eyes on her; in fact, she realized she somehow wanted him to look at her like _that_ again.

And walking alone in the streets of Satan City, smiling, she could not help but wonder what it would feel like to kiss him in the rain…

Gohan had bought his costume as well, gulped when Erasa had told him, laughing, that he looked like a superhero, his spandex costume underneath his jacket, and was now waving them goodbye.

He had walked to a nearby desert alley and took flight. Despite the cold air surrounding him, he now felt a strong fire inside his chest, a fire where there only used to be a void. His wild hair blown by a wind of change, a wind of hope, he murmured to himself, smiling:

"Maybe this Halloween won't be that bad…"

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**Author's note: Just for fun, did you guess what anime characters I had in mind when describing the costumes?**

**Sharpner –Vampire Hunter D(damn good movies, both of them, the 1985 and the 2000 versions)**

**Erasa – Sailor Moon sighs**

**Videl – Gunnm/Battle Angel (great manga!)**

**Gohan – Spiderman (ok, I know technically it's not an anime, but there's a tv series and the "kiss in the rain" line was just too good to pass on it…)**

**Well, this is it! Review and let me know what you think.**


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